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The government of British Columbia, Canada, has plans to launch a tender process to carry out the George Massey Tunnel replacement project during 2016.

Last month the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure unveiled design and cost details of the PPP project. It will involve, among others, the development of a new 10 lanes 3.3 km cable-stay bride, the replacement of three key interchanges, and the upgrade of 24 km of the Highway 99.

The new bridge will replace the 1959-opened George Massey Tunnel under the Fraser River. It will be used by approximately 10, 000 transit passengers and 80,00 vehicles per day.

The bridge will have four general traffic lanes, one lane dedicated for high occupancy vehicles (HOV) and transit, and a multi-use pathway for pedestrians. It will also accommodate future SkyTrain line extension.

It is expected that the project will reduce the travel time and collisions associated with merging into narrow tunnel lanes by 35 %.

The concession contact will have a period of 30 years and the total project investment is estimated at CAD$3.5 billion (US$2.4 billion). Construction works are scheduled to commence in 2017.

See George Massey Tunnel replacement project technical briefing:

http://infrapppworld.com/documents/projects/technical-briefing-2.pdf